A CD maturity date is the day your certificate of deposit term ends and your money becomes available to withdraw without a penalty. It’s set the day you open the account: a six-month CD opened on January 15 matures on July 15; a five-year CD opened the same day matures on January 15 five years later. That single date drives every deadline that follows, from when your bank must notify you about what happens next to when your funds automatically roll into a new CD if you do nothing.
What Maturity Actually Changes
When you opened the CD, you agreed to leave a fixed amount with the bank for a set period in exchange for a guaranteed interest rate. On the maturity date, that agreement ends. Your original deposit plus all accumulated interest becomes fully accessible, and the bank’s right to charge an early withdrawal penalty expires.
The date lives in your account agreement and on any maturity notice the bank sends. It doesn’t move. If the date falls on a weekend or holiday, the bank’s grace period gives you room to act on the next business day, but the maturity date itself is the date printed on the account.
The Grace Period After Maturity
Once maturity arrives, a short window called the grace period begins. Federal regulations require banks that offer automatic renewal to provide a grace period of at least five calendar days, though many banks extend this to seven or ten days.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1030.5 – Subsequent Disclosures During this window you can withdraw the funds, transfer them to another account, or change your CD terms without penalty.
The grace period exists because most CDs auto-renew. Without it, your money would lock into a new term the instant the old one ended. Check your account agreement or maturity notice for the exact length, because it varies by institution. Once the window closes, your options change.
What Your Bank Must Tell You Before Maturity
Regulation DD requires banks to send you a written maturity notice before your CD term ends. For any CD longer than one month that automatically renews, the notice must arrive at least 30 calendar days before the maturity date. Banks can alternatively send it at least 20 calendar days before the grace period ends, as long as the grace period is at least five days.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1030.5 – Subsequent Disclosures
What the notice contains depends on how long your CD term is:
- For terms longer than one year, the bank must provide full account disclosures for the renewed CD, including the maturity date of your existing account, the interest rate and annual percentage yield for the new term, and key account terms. If the new rate hasn’t been set yet, the bank must say so and give you a phone number to call for the rate once it’s determined.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1030.5 – Subsequent Disclosures
- For terms of one year or less but longer than one month, the bank can either provide those same full disclosures or send a simpler notice showing your current maturity date, the new maturity date if the CD renews, the new rate and APY (or instructions for getting them), and any differences between your current and renewal terms.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1030.5 – Subsequent Disclosures
- For non-renewing CDs longer than one year, the bank must tell you the maturity date and whether interest will continue to accrue after maturity, at least 10 calendar days before the CD matures.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1030.5 – Subsequent Disclosures
Read this notice carefully. It’s your clearest look at whether the renewal rate is lower than what you originally earned. If the rate hasn’t been determined yet, call the number on the notice before the grace period closes.
Your Options When the CD Matures
You generally have three choices: withdraw the money, move it into a different account, or roll it into a new CD on terms you choose.
Most banks let you handle this through their online portal, by phone, or in person at a branch. You can transfer the balance to a linked checking or savings account, request a cashier’s check, or open a new CD at whatever rate and term you prefer. Funds typically arrive in your designated account within one to three business days after you submit the request.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Certificate of Deposit (CD) Rollover or Renewal?
Act during the grace period. Banks are not required to follow up beyond the initial maturity notice. Set a calendar reminder for the maturity date itself, and if you already have a plan for the funds, contact your bank a few days early so the instructions are in place.
What Automatic Renewal Costs If You Do Nothing
If you take no action during the grace period, most banks automatically roll your full balance, including earned interest, into a new CD with the same term length.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Certificate of Deposit (CD) Rollover or Renewal? The new CD won’t carry the rate you originally locked in. It gets whatever rate the bank is currently offering for that term, which can be meaningfully lower than your original.
Regulation DD requires the bank to disclose the renewal rate or provide a way to find it, but doesn’t require competitive or promotional rates on auto-renewed CDs.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation DD (Truth in Savings) – Appendix B Many banks apply their standard “board” rate to renewals, which tends to be lower than what they advertise to attract new customers.
Once the renewal takes effect, your money is locked behind the bank’s early withdrawal penalty structure again. A renewed one-year CD means another full year before you can access the funds penalty-free. Early withdrawal from the renewed CD typically costs 90 to 180 days of interest, and penalties on longer terms can exceed a full year of interest.4Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. CD Penalties That penalty gets deducted from your balance, which can eat into principal on a recently renewed account that hasn’t had time to build up interest.
Brokered CDs Handle Maturity Differently
If you bought your CD through a brokerage account rather than directly from a bank, the maturity process is different. Brokered CDs generally do not auto-renew. When the CD matures, the principal and final interest payment are deposited into your brokerage settlement account, and that’s the end of it. There’s no grace period decision because there’s no renewal to opt out of.
Interest handling also differs. Bank CDs typically compound interest through the term and pay it as a lump sum at maturity. Brokered CDs often pay interest directly into your brokerage account on a regular schedule, such as monthly or semiannually, rather than compounding inside the CD. The maturity value of a brokered CD may just be your original principal, since you’ve been receiving interest along the way. If you want to reinvest, you actively purchase a new CD through your brokerage.
Taxes Don’t Wait for Maturity
CD interest is taxable as ordinary income, and the IRS doesn’t necessarily wait until your CD matures to expect its share. Under the constructive receipt rule, interest counts as taxable income in the year it’s credited to your account if you could withdraw it, even if doing so would trigger a penalty.5eCFR. 26 CFR 1.451-2 – Constructive Receipt of Income The regulation specifically says an early withdrawal penalty is not a “substantial limitation” that would delay when interest becomes taxable. Most CD interest is taxed annually as it accrues, not all at once at maturity.
Your bank will send you a Form 1099-INT each year reporting any interest of $10 or more.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-INT, Interest Income For a multi-year CD, you’ll get this form every year, not just the maturity year. If you earned less than $10, you’re still required to report the interest on your tax return.
FDIC Insurance and Accrued Interest at Maturity
FDIC insurance covers up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category.7Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Understanding Deposit Insurance Accrued interest counts toward that limit. If you deposited $245,000 in a five-year CD and it has earned $12,000 in interest by maturity, your total balance is $257,000, and $7,000 exceeds the insurance cap.8Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposit Insurance FAQs
This matters most for large CDs nearing maturity, especially if you have other accounts at the same bank. Your CD balance plus any other deposits you hold at that institution in the same ownership category all count against the single $250,000 limit. If your combined balances exceed that threshold, consider splitting funds across different banks or ownership categories before renewal.
What Happens to a Forgotten CD
If a CD matures and nobody touches the money, it doesn’t sit at the bank forever. After a period of inactivity, the bank is legally required to turn the funds over to the state under abandoned property laws, a process known as escheatment. The dormancy period varies by state, generally three to five years after maturity, though a few states allow up to seven or ten. The clock usually starts at the maturity date or the date of your last account activity, whichever is later.
Once the state takes custody, the money isn’t gone. You can reclaim it through your state’s unclaimed property office, but the process takes time and the funds stop earning interest the moment the bank transfers them. If you have CDs at banks you no longer actively use, check in before maturity. A forgotten CD that auto-renews repeatedly can eventually become abandoned property if you never respond to notices or interact with the account.